Hamstring limits Parker in Game 4

Hampered by a strained right hamstring, Spurs point guard Tony Parker expressed hope he’ll be closer to full strength for Game 5 of the NBA Finals after fading badly in Thursday’s Game 4.

Parker, who was injured in the second half of Game 3, started off well, scoring 11 points in the first quarter and 15 in the first half. But the perennial All-Star didn’t score over the final two quarters as the Heat pulled away for a 109-93 victory that evened the series at 2-2.

Parker plans to take full advantage of two days to rehabilitate the Grade I strain leading up to Game 5 on Sunday at the AT&T Center.

“(Rest) is going to be huge for me,” said Parker, who also had nine assists in 32 minutes. “Those two days I’m going to make sure I do a lot of treatment and get to 100 percent. Tonight I was not 100 percent. By Sunday that’s my goal, to be good to go.”

Parker intimated that he had to convince coach Gregg Popovich to play.

“Overall I’m just happy I didn’t make it worse,” he said. “That was the goal, to not try to get hurt, because Pop was not really happy, meaning I wanted to play and took a little risk. So I’m happy I’m not worse. I just told Pop, let’s see how it feels in the first quarter. And I told Pop I’ll be honest with him if it doesn’t feel good after the first quarter. We’ll shut it down and not take a risk to get a tear.”

Popovich had little to say about Parker’s condition.

“He’s fine,” he said. “Miami did a great job on him. They got it out of his hands, and other people had to play.”

Parker, however, said fatigue stemming from injury impacted performance.

“It was kind of weak,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect. So the first three, four minutes I was testing it, and the first half it felt okay. And the second half I think I got fatigued a little bit.”